Friday, January 30, 2026

Alex Pretti's killing wobbles Trump

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This is America

Stories of justice and action across America

Fri Jan 30 2026

Another U.S. citizen died at the hands of immigration enforcement officers, causing the Trump administration to look for a reset button before another possible federal government shutdown.

Welcome, This is America readers, I'm Phillip M. Bailey, chief political correspondent at USA TODAY.

ICU nurse Alex Pretti 's death at the hands of two border officers in Minnesota coming off the heels of Renee Nicole Good's fatal shooting by an ICE agent has wobbled President Donald Trump's anti-immigration campaign in the state and elsewhere.

White House border czar Tom Homan , who the president dispatched after sidling Greg Bovino, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, announced there will be a "draw down" on the number of immigration agents in Minneapolis, where Pretti and Good were killed this month.

Tensions remain high in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, however, as protests continue and Democrats back in Washington seek to leverage the pair of killings by demanding more accountability for ICE and Border Patrol.

Many left-wing grassroots groups and prominent voices have demanded a permanent dismantling of ICE citing its practices.

A person is pictured near posters of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. Good and Pretti, both U.S. citizens, were fatally shot in two separate incidents by federal immigration agents.

Seth Herald, REUTERS

A federal judge in Minneapolis, for instance, bemoaned in a Jan. 28 filing how the agency has gone rogue by ignoring nearly 100 court orders during its enforcement surge this month.

Trump, meanwhile, has oscillated from saying Pretti's killing was a "very unfortunate incident" and speaking with Minnesota Gov. Tim Waz (who he has had months-long animosity with) to sharing a video of the 37-year-old health care worker getting into in a heated encounter with federal agents about 11 days before the deadly shooting when he kicked out the rear taillight of a vehicle before being tackled by agents.

For more on the Minneapolis fallout, check out USA TODAY's coverage:

Who was Alex Pretti? Man killed by feds remembered as helper of people

2 agents fired guns in Alex Pretti shooting, DHS finds: Read the report.

ICE ends 'enhanced' operation in Maine, Sen. Susan Collins says: The longtime GOP incumbent, a top target in the 2026 midterms said she had been "urging" the Trump administration to "reconsider its approach."

Trump is using his 'king-like' power of clemency a 2nd time around

Donald Trump has certainly pushed the limits of executive power in the year since he returned to power, alarming opponent and exciting allies.

One area that he has used it the most has been clemency, an unquestionable presidential authority that may be looked at differently in the future.

He started with the most controversial use early last year when more than 1,500 people convicted for crimes related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots , including assaults on law enforcement, were pardoned.

Trump's also used that king-like power for various other figures that represent a wide cross-section of his populist coalition, such as former U.S. Rep. George Santos; former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; rapper NBA YoungBoy; Chicago gang leader Larry Hoover; reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley; and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

A review of the other individual cases Trump has granted clemency to this year show about half of them are for white-collar crimes, such as fraud, bribery and tax evasion.

Some people have had reported personal or financial connections to Trump, too, which has raised critics eyebrows about the ethical nature of these decisions.

Thanks for reading! See you back next week with more stories of justice from across the country.